Back in October 2019, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Ford Motor Company announced their Joint Venture (JV) in India, wherein M&M would hold 51 % controlling stake while Ford Motor Company would hold the remainder of 49 % controlling stake. Then, back in January 2021, both companies called off their venture, in a shocking move. Under the JV, both companies were supposed to jointly develop products for the local as well as international markets and also share components between them. Ford was hence going to use Mahindra’s engines in its future products but now though, it has been announced that Ford will use its own engines.
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As it stands, after the call-off, Ford has continued on its own in the Indian market. It had recently introduced the EcosPort SE variant to freshen up the EcoSport lineup which is one of the most important products for Ford in India.
Earlier, it was conveyed that Ford’s SUV based on the new-gen Mahindra XUV 500 was still on track and that it will share the platform and the engines, the 2.0L mStallion turbo petrol and a 2.2L mHawk diesel with the XUV 500. Now, after the recent developments, Ford has stated that it is reevaluating its options for this CSUV and would probably turn to the Ford Explorer to get the desired powertrain and platform.
Furthermore, the development of a Hyundai Creta-rival from Ford ( codenamed BX772 ) and a sub-4-metre SUV ( codenamed BX744 ) are currently being put on hold. Both these products will be produced by Ford internally now, but the American carmaker is yet to finalise the powertrains to use for these products.
Earlier, it was also reported that The Ford EcoSport would also get a 1.2L mStallion turbo petrol engine from M&M in place of its 1.0L turbo petrol mill. Apart from that, there were speculations of them jointly developing an MPV and sharing EV technology neither of which will happen now.
The call-off for Ford means it has to survive independently in the Indian market without local aid, while it was unable to leverage M&M cost-effective production for better returns overseas as well. M&M, on the other hand, will lose out on Ford’s technology, reach and position in prospective global markets where M&M was eyeing an expansion. No formal statements have issued by either Ford or Mahindra but it seems that both companies are looking to go down on the road of their own.